Mentally ill defendant re-charged in 2013 Pioneer Square slaying

A Shoreline CC professor was killed while protecting his girlfriend from the stabbings

Lynsi Burton
| on December 12, 2017

Photo: 2013 Daniel Berman

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Troy Wolff , the chairman of the English Department at Shoreline Community College, died and a woman he was with is in serious condition after they were stabbed repeatedly by a stranger who confronted them

Troy Wolff , the chairman of the English Department at Shoreline Community College, died and a woman he was with is in serious condition after they were stabbed repeatedly by a stranger who confronted them Friday night as they were walking in Pioneer Square after the Seattle Sounders game. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Berman/Bermanphotos.com)

Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI

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A man deemed too mentally ill to face a murder trial two years ago was charged again last week with the slaying of a Shoreline Community College professor and stabbing his girlfriend in 2013.

Troy Wolff and his girlfriend were reportedly headed to a light rail station after a Seattle Sounders game Sept. 13, 2013 when they were suddenly attacked by a stranger in the 300 block of South Jackson Street, reports say.

The girlfriend was stabbed twice in the chest, but Wolff intervened and was stabbed repeatedly in the chest, head and abdomen.

Both were taken to Harborview Medical Center and Wolff, 46, later died.

Now Donnell D. Jackson will head back to court after spending two years in inpatient treatment in an effort to rehabilitate his mental health.

Jackson's charges were dismissed in 2015 after a Western State Hospital examination found him to suffer ongoing schozophrenia and psychotic symptoms. Caregivers had spent nearly a year trying to restore his competency, according to a court memo. He was deemed unable to understand the charges and the court procedures he faced, according to the report. The charges were cleared with the understanding that they could be filed again should he be declared fit for trial.

Western State Hospital sent the King County Prosecutor's office a letter in November indicating their intent to send Jackson to a less-restrictive facility soon, reporting that "his mental condition has stabilized significantly," according to court records.

After his arrest, Jackson reportedly told detectives he was schizophrenic and had been off his medications for about four months, according to the incident report. He had just moved to Seattle from Sacramento six months earlier and had no stable housing.

A witness claimed that Jackson said, "I'm going to kill you" to the victims. Another told officers that Jackson kept repeating, "blood money."

Jackson allegedly told detectives that the victims were part of a group holding people hostage in South Seattle and that one of them "pulled a Glock" on him just an hour earlier. He also said one of them stared at him on the light rail earlier that day and pulled out a gun, according to the incident report.

A judge ordered Jackson be held on $2 million bail on the new charges, which are first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder. He has not yet been transferred to jail from Western State, according to the jail roster.

Wolff spent 17 years teaching at the community college, also serving time as chairman of the English department.